I was reading about the case in New Jersey wherein the lesbian partner of a terminally ill police officer is being denied survivor benefits. But I’m not going to rant about that. I’m not going to rant about her TWENTY-FOUR years of service as a POLICE OFFICER in New Jersey. I’m not going to mention that STATE employees have domestic partnership benefits in New Jersey, but it was left to counties to make their own decisions about their employees, and Ocean County has said NO.
Instead, here’s what I’ll rant about today. In the particular blog where I was reading about this case, one of the commenters said this (okay, I took out some spelling errors, because I’m like that, but he mostly said this):
I’ve noticed that the younger generation, the ones in high school and college now, are much more open to the idea of GLBT equality. Perhaps one thing in our favor is the passage of time… the baby boomers, many, many of whom (but not all) were hippies in the 70s turned self-righteous selfish resource-hogging sanctimonious neo-Christian assholes in the Millenium, are quickly careening toward certain death. This can only serve to tilt the demographics of the country, even New Jersey, in our favor.
Now, as a baby boomer who was a hippie in the 70s, may I just say, “RIGHT ON!” What the hell happened to my generation? How did our dope-smoking, Grateful Dead-listening, peace-and-love-believing, do-your-own-thing-touting selves turn into such hateful, narrowminded assholes? Assholes that younger people are gleefully considering “quickly careening toward certain death?” The hypocrisy of the people I grew up with astounds me. And don’t think I don’t have photographic evidence of the way we were, ’cause I do.
Dear My Generation: You know what really sucks? You proved our parents right when they said, “Oh, they’ll outgrow all that when they have kids and a mortgage payment.”
Dear Younger Generation: You are right. We’ll be dead when you’re in charge. Maybe you shouldn’t have kids or buy houses though. It apparently robs you of your ideals.
If you want more information about this case, fellow author and Live Journaler Michael Jensen provides it in an excellent three-part story in The Big Gay Picture.
There was a lesbian police officer that was shot in the line of duty – her domestic partner received nothing. The officer’s family who had accepted her girlfriend as a member of the family is suing the police department for negligence, saying that they did not follow procedures and that the officer had no idea of what she was walking into. I don’t think the family would have done that if her partner had received benefits. It’s a long shot, but I hope they win
This kind of news scares me and angers me simultaneously. There’s nothing scarier than a scared, angry lesbian…except a scared, angry lesbian backed into a corner.
Laurel Hester
Hi Becky,
Just wanted to drop by to hi and thanks for the kind words about the Laurel Hester post. She truly is a remarkable woman. I’ve taken two new writing jobs so I am afraid I haven’t looked at livejournal in too long. Glad to see you’re still here keeping plugging away. Looking forward to your next book!
Michael